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Notes from the floor of the Detroit auto show

January 8, 2012

The Chevy Tru 140S concept is meant to appeal to buyers in their 30s.

Mark Reuss's first car was a 1960s Chevrolet Chevelle, and General Motors' North American chief has never been anything but an unabashed lover of performance. But he's the first to acknowledge that reaching a new generation of buyers--just now approaching their 30s—is a difficult task that requires more than just raw horsepower.

Enter the sports-car concepts revealed on Monday at the Detroit auto show, the Code 130R and the Tru 140S. Not exactly the catchiest of names, but they're striking and symbolic of a new breed of performance for Chevrolet.

Both cars theoretically would be priced at just more than $20,000 and run four-cylinder engines rated at about 150 hp. They would be relatively lightweight and get an estimated 40 mpg. Practical, sporty and responsible. At least that's the idea, since these concepts don't even have interiors and are strictly design studies at this point.

The Tru 140S is a hatch being hawked as an attainable exotic, with front-wheel drive. The Code 130R is rear-drive and summons the spirit of powerful, useful coupes such as the Chevelle. That's what Reuss and GM seek to do: make modern Chevys the practical performance machines that appeal to younger buyers.

“Today's younger generation will be a driving force in the automotive market for years to come,” Reuss said. “We're going to do everything we can to inspire passion.”

That's a proposition wrought with pitfalls, as GM research finds 54 percent of this new generation of buyers, called millenials, would rather be social-networking and driving.

If you read Autoweek, that probably just made you grind your teeth. But it's the reality of what automakers must grapple with as they try to reach new consumers.

In other news

Meanwhile, the first part of the auto show was a frenetic event, with reveals coming every half hour or so. Mercedes-Benz rolled out the SL, two E-class hybrids and a rather cool-looking Smart concept, and used comedian Jon Lovitz to warm up the crowd.

The star power continued at BMW, where the luxury carmaker rolled out gold medalists Apolo Ohno, Bryan Clay and Janet Evans to tout its efficient performance programs and support of the U.S. Olympic teams. Evans had the best story, offering a vignette about her first car, a red 3-series that her parents got her after she won gold in 1988.